The police prevented Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav from stepping out of home early on Monday morning, and later detained him in the afternoon when he began a dharna near his residence protesting against the new farm laws.

Earlier, the former chief minister had told reporters his party had planned protests across Uttar Pradesh in solidarity with the protesting farmers.

“I wanted to go to Kannauj to lead the protest there but the police didn’t let me move out of my home for many hours in the morning. Nor did the Kannauj administration give us permission for a procession,” he said.

“I wrote today to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to withdraw the new farm laws as they are a death warrant for the farmers. We have announced our support for the farmers’ Bharat Bandh call (on Tuesday).”

Later, as Akhilesh started his dharna at the Bandariyabagh Crossing, about 50 metres from his home, the police took him to the Eco Garden park, 10km away, and detained him there from about noon to 5pm.

Akhilesh said the police had put many Samajwadi leaders under house arrest across the state.

Chandrashekhar Singh, local station house officer, said: “We had posted forces near the leader’s (Akhilesh’s) house to prevent him going to Kannauj. We later detained him and his supporters and released them after a few hours.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke on the importance of reforms in general without mentioning the contentious new farm laws.

Bandh support

Ahmedabad: Twenty-three farmer groups here have formed the Gujarat Khedut Sangharsh Samiti and are supporting the Bharat bandh. “We will hold protests all over Gujarat on December 10,’’ Jayesh Patel of Gujarat Khedut Samaj said. PTI